I guess I never posted this last week! Sorry for the delay!
Week 2:
I was unfortunately only able to collect one coworker to perform the VTS with. Due to this week
being Catholic Schools Week, we have been on a special schedule every day, all week. We were
cut down on our plan periods and when we have one, we are very limited on time to get things
done. So you can say its been crazy around here and not a lot of people were willing to give up
all their time this week.
But needless to say… I worked with what I had. I presented the Winslow Homer work, “Dad’s
Coming”. She was able to quickly find things within the picture and support what she was saying
with evidence. She liked the higher order thinking skills that were required for this task. She did
not come up with a story line that followed the title. After she asked for the title of the work, she
was surprised with the answer. She created a story of a “day at the beach”. She thought that this
was a great way to enhance your viewing experience and make you think about the meanings
behind a work.
She was impressed with the teaching methods and the steps in VTS. She asked multiple questions
about the VTS process and how she would be able to use it in her classroom. She stated that she
would like to come back when I perform this strategy in the classroom setting. I told her that I
would welcome her to come when we do this. I am not sure if she will be able to because we
have the same plan and teaching times. We will see.
Yes, sometimes we have to work with what we have and it seems that your solo colleague did get something out of the discussion. Not having peers to scaffold from and to collaboratively construct meaning with was unfortunate. If she was impressed with the method working alone, I'm sure she would have been blown away at a group.
ReplyDeleteI hope she will be able to come watch you...perhaps you could share a video with her and get her feedback from that. I think she would be impressed.
I smiled, too, when I read that she wondered how she might use the strategy with her own students. It would be interested to know what content area she teachers? We might be able to send some "complimentary" images her way.
Great job!